


The Bloodwing Cycle

by malhagie



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Multi, i love borderlands, only a little joey k i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-10 04:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20521757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malhagie/pseuds/malhagie
Summary: On the desolate world of Pandora mysterious alien vaults full of alien technology have been opening Vault Hunters flock from far and wide...Blue and Adam are two Pandora natives just trying to get by the last thing they need is these rich assholes getting in their lives..."Blue hated her job at the small town’s only bar. She wished she could just quit but it was the highest paying out of all of her part-time jobs..."





	1. Workplace Harrassment

Blue hated her job at the small town’s only bar. She wished she could just quit but it was the highest paying out of all of her part-time jobs. 

The small town overlooked the large crater owned by the gun manufacturer Torgue, The Badass Crater of Badassitude. Inside the center of this crater was the Torgue Arena. That was where the various bandit gangs and would be Vault Hunters fought to be proven as the most badass. One big shit show of toxic masculinity and testosterone, it nothing more than a place to watch things and people get blown up.

These bloody shenanigans brought out all sorts of assholes to come and watch, gamble, and participate. From bandits, to businessmen, to would be vault hunters all got drunk at Nino’s Bar and Pizzeria. And all three made Blue’s time there miserable.

Blue was absently fixing her many barretts, waiting for customers, when one stepped up to the bar. Thankfully he wasn’t the worst, he wasn’t a bandit. He was wearing a waistcoat though, so not much better. Dressed in old-timey fashion he looked like he could be a businessman or a vault hunter. She leaned toward businessman, with that perfectly styled chestnut hair and the fake smile plastered across his face. He looked easily like he could be a Jakob’s corp goon except for the offensive chartreuse of his tie.

“Hello,” he said with bravado.

“Yes, what can I get for you,” Blue replied. She could not muster up much enthusiasm.

“I will have an ice tea and a moment of your time, please,” he said with the smile of a politician.

Blue quirked an eyebrow as high as it would go.

He smiled even harder and with a small nod of his head he turned to sit down at a booth. He pulled out a small journal and began to leaf through it.

Blue returned shortly with his ice tea and placed it down infront of him.

“Ah yes, please take a seat.” he said gesturing across from him to the opposite seat of the booth.

“Excuse me?” 

“I have many questions about the surrounding area and need a local as a guide,” he explained as if he was asking for sugar and not a time intensive commitment with a stranger.

“I am not here to explain the local tourist traps to you, I have work to do,” she began to turn away.

“Please,” the man pleaded, “I’ll make it worth your while.” He pulled out his wallet and starts to pull out several bills.

“You can’t just buy my time! Who do you think you are demanding that?”

His mouth fell open in surprise, “I - uh - I did not mean to offend.”

“Well you did offend,” Blue spat back.

“Let me just pay for my tea,” he sat back into the booth and pulled bills from his wallet. 

He handed her a large bill, barely glancing at it.

Blue scowled at it for a moment before snatching the money from his hand and stomping away. She shoved the bill into the tip jar and watched out of the corner of her eye as the man exited the bar.

~~~

Adam worked very hard, so unbelievably hard. Anything to get off Pandora. As a Pandora native he was born in the dirt and blood. He grew up surrounded by poverty and desperation. The bandits warred outside the walls of his tiny village where he and his parents lived in a discarded cargo container.

Adam worked very hard to save the money for passage and a new life off the planet. He was getting so close. He worked three jobs and took classes through the echonet. He did anything he could to save money and build skills, anything to get him off and away from the dirty little planet.

Adam worked very hard, he did not need rich assholes slumming it in his neighborhood, tearing it and the surrounding wastes up with their loud and expensive cars. He needed them around like he needed a hole in his foot.

So of course when he gets into his late shift at Boyd’s two of these rich assholes are there waiting. 

Two sleek sports cars, covered in Pandora dust. One charcoal grey with aggressive lines, thick treaded tires, and a shark nose. A luxury Vladof model. The other a smaller Maliwan model with a bloody knife painted along the side, spiked tires, and a large wing.

Two boys around Adam’s age lay sprawled across the hood of the Maliwan.

Adam approached like he would approach a scag den. It was just a matter of time before acid would be spat in his face.

One boy wearing sunglasses sat up as he heard Adam’s approach. He nudged the other boy awake. The other boy slid off the hood of the car and scrubbed his hands across his face and shaved head. He’s dressed in all black with a sharp scowl on his angled face. He has an angry and intimidating air about him. Adam is not affected, his last client called himself Bone Muncher, a mean rich boy wasn’t going to scare him.

“Yeah, what do you want?” the boy asked Adam like he was the one being inconvenienced.

“Is that your car?” Adam asks gesturing behind him to the Vladof.

The boy grunts and stumbles over. He gestures with a flap of his arm to damage centered over the rear left wheel.

"What did you do to it?" Adam asked

"Does it matter?" the boy whined.

"Yes it does, it will help me-"

The boy scoffed loudly, cutting him off.

Adam clenched his fists in anger, his blood beginning to boil at the disrespect.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, lets not get heated here,” the boy with the sunglasses says with a slimy smile. He throws his arm over Adam’s shoulder and caused him to flinch.

Adam throws his arm off and steps away.

“Oh testy are we,” boy says the sun dancing off his dark shades.

“Shut up K,” the boy in black spits. Turning to Adam he said, “Well, can you fix it or not?”

“I can’t tell just by looking at it, I need to do a full inspection,” Adam explained.

“So that’s a no then,” the boy said.

“I didn’t say that.”

Another scoff and a roll of the eyes.

“Whatever,” he turns away, “Come on K lets go.”

“Good luck Princess,” he slaps Adam on the ass before jogging to the white Maliwan as the other boy throws himself into the passenger seat.

Tires squeal as he pulls out, spraying Adam with gravel and kicking up dust. Adam coughs, trying not to breathe too hard. He unlocks the garage and opens the driver's side of the Vladof car to find the keys inside. Once inside the garage he performs a proper inspection of the car. The damage is mostly cosmetic, no structural damage. Adam gets to work.


	2. Tension in the air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more of last time
> 
> there MIGHT be more than 3 chapters. i do not want to get anyones hopes up though.

Blue’s shift at the bar ended after the sun had set, meaning she had to walk the short distance home in the dark. Elpis, the large moon, cast a blue glow across the land. With the moon and the floodlights on nearby buildings it was just enough light to see by.

Soon into her walk she realized someone was following her and they were not doing a good job at it. She could hear the crunch of gravel under their feet a few paces behind her.

She rested her hand on her pistol concealed under her sweater and went out of her way to more crowded areas of the town. 

The person still followed so she slowed her walking speed. The person following her increased their stride, the gravel snapping under their shoes. 

Before they could get too close Blue pulled her gun from the holster and turned on the person following her. The small and wicked sharp bayonet on her pink repeater pistol stopped inches from the man’s chest. 

It was the man from the bar, the one dressed like and old time-y explorer who tried to pay her to skip work. He was very startled by the weapon, and he let out a small yipe, his face going pale.

Blue relaxed slightly. He obviously had not had anyone pull a gun on him before.

“Um, ah,” he begins to raise his arms, “I mean you no harm-”

“What do you have in you hand?” Blue demanded.

“Their, um,” he brought his arms down to show her, he’s holding; ”flowers.”

“Flowers,” Blue echoed

“These are for you,” he held out the flowers with a stiff arm, trying to ignore the gun pointed at his chest.

Blue slowly lowered the gun.

“I just wanted to apologize and explain myself if you are willing to listen,” he said. Despite having the shit scared out of him moments ago his voice was steady and calm. He lifted the flowers up to face level, holding them out to her.

Blue rips the flowers from his hand.

The man relaxes and take this gesture as an opportunity to begin talking.

“My name is Gansey and I am on the trail of a mysterious artifact related to the mining of Eridium and the opening of the two vaults-”

“You mean a vault key. You’re looking for a vault key just like every other miserable scab on this planet,” Blue spat venom. She turned away from Gansey and tossed the flowers on the ground, “Don’t waste my time.”

She stomped away.

~~~

It was bad enough that this rich asshat had to bring his car to the garage Adam worked at in the first place, but now he had decided to lurk around the garage and make Adam uncomfortable.

He was already there when Adam arrived at the start of his shift, lurking halfway behind the garage. He was hunched over, black leather jacket pulled around him.

Adam was unsure of what to do, so he just got to work opening up the garage. As the large doors opened the boy wandered around to the front. He leaned against a wall in view of where Adam was working on a dirt bike.

“Your car is not done yet, we’re waiting on a shipment of parts,” Adam said without looking at him.

The boy huffed, “Whatever, I can wait.”

“It will be a day or too,” Adam promised.

The boy fixed him with an icy glare. Adam breaks first, looking back to where his dirty hand rested on the dirt bike. He could feel the boy’s gaze linger and it sent a shiver up his spine.

He could feel the rich off-worlder’s eyes on the back of his neck. He’s suddenly self conscious of how dirty he is, covered in the dull brown Pandora dust and engine grease. 

He moved on to a cruiser and glances over to the boy to find that he hasn’t moved.

“Seriously, why are you here?” Adam’s temper spikes.

The boy shrugged. He turns from Adam and wandered out of the garage. Adam noticed that the back of his neck is tattooed. Hook like wings peak over the collar of his jacket disappearing down.

Adam quickly turned away. He got back to work. 

~~~

Adam finished working on the cruiser and went into the office for some water and a short break. Out of some morbid curiosity he stepped out of the office and into the blinding sun to see if the boy was still loitering nearby.

He was, sitting against the wall of the garage hunched over himself. He didn’t appear to notice Adam, he was too focused on something squirming inside of his jacket. He swore quietly to himself as the thing moved.

With one final curse the creature was released from the confines of his jacket. It was a baby bird, and immature bloodwing. It had leathery brown bat wings, giant talons, and scraggly feathers covering its body.

The boy stroked the bloodwing’s head gently, murmuring softly to it. The bird swacked, but started to settle down.

The call caused Adam to jump and he shook himself out of his stupor. He returned to work.

A little later, not too long before Adam’s shift ended a new car pulls up to the garage. It’s a bright orange muscle car with black racing stripes. It's tricked out for the desert wastes and caked in a thick layer of dust. 

Adam finds a rag to wipe his hands off onto great the new customer but the car stops a distance from the garage and the boy walks over and throws his body into the passenger seat.

Once he’s inside the car turns away driving away from town and into the wastes, leaving Adam inhaling dust clouds once again.


End file.
